Earlier today, Forbes posted an article by Robert Olsen, discussing the rapidly expanding e-commerce market in China, which is expected to nearly double in 2010. According to this article, web activity in China appears to be business as usual despite recent discussions regarding the Google’s controversy. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, 2009 saw the number of Internet users in the country skyrocket 28.9%. As a result, China has 384 million users — more than the population of the US. In 2009, Chinese e-commerce grew by 90%.

Worldwide, online shopping sales reached $36.6 billion in 2009, a feat many experts attribute to increased web security, and waning consumers’ fears about ordering online. This has been a difficult obstacle to overcome in China, where many consumers have had a difficult time trusting retailers to send genuine and undamaged goods, once money is exchanged. Fortunately, new and reliable third party  payment services, such as Alipay, are are growing in prominence in China.

Alipay (owned by Alibaba) is much like Paypal, but funds are not transferred to the vendor until after after a confirmed delivery. Alipay’s growth is remarkable as they are now processing more than $146 million in transactions every day. And recently, Alipay  announced that within two years, their revenue would exceed that of Paypal. Similar to the Paypal/Ebay relationship, much of Alipay’s success has been linked to the company’s online retailer, Taobao, which accounts for 80% of China’s total online market share.

via Robert Olsen @ Forbes.com